Battle of San Gimignano

The Battle of San Gimignano (14 April 1478) occurred when mercenary forces loyal to the House of Auditore, the ruling family of Monteriggioni, assaulted Vieri de Pazzi's Pazzi mercenaries in the Tuscan town of San Gimignano. Vieri de Pazzi's forces had been harassing Mario Auditore's condottieri across Tuscany because the Pazzis were allied to the Templar Order, while the the Auditore family was allied to their Hashshashin rivals; Auditore took in his nephew Ezio Auditore da Firenze after the Pazzi family chased him out of Florence.

On 14 April 1478, Mario Auditore and his mercenaries decided to ride for San Gimignano to slay Vieri de Pazzi and put an end to the disturbance in the region. The Pazzi mercenary garrison was not large enough to defend the entire city, leaving the southern gate with insufficient protection. Ezio Auditore managed to sneak up the walls and dispatch some mercenary archers with throwing knives, and he then opened the gates for the Auditore mercenaries. The Auditore mercenaries proceeded to assault the castle, and Vieri de Pazzi was alerted to this after Rodrigo Borgia, Francesco de Pazzi, and Jacopo de Pazzi left the town following a meeting with him. As the mercenaries from both families clashed on the ground, Ezio climbed the battlements, and he challenged Vieri to a duel. They later fought their way to the ground, where Ezio managed to outfight Vieri with a sword and chop Vieri on the left shoulder, mortally wounding him. Vieri's death led to San Gimignano being freed of Pazzi rule, and Tuscany was briefly pacified.